Santorelli had been a nice find. A guy who scored 20 goals in 2010-11 for Florida and just 11 in the three years following, the 28 year old had picked up 10 scores and assisted on 18 more in 49 games this season. He suffered the shoulder injury against the Coyotes on January 16 and had not played since.

Is Santorelli a guy whose individual loss will break a team’s season? Of course not. Neither is Bieksa’s or Tanev’s.

But all of them together, combined Sedin’s absence and Tortorella’s suspension to boot? That’s a tough mountain to overcome. For a team struggling before these problems began to pile up, that Olympic break has to look very appealing. In theory, all of their missing pieces, sans Santorelli, will be back in action when the Canucks return to the ice on February 26.

The Canucks just have to hope their season doesn’t go up in smoke before then.